16 October 2018

Biodiversity

Biodiversity and ecosystem function

More diversity begets more productivity

Reviewed in Duffy (2009) Front. Ecol. Environ.

Biodiversity and ecosystem function

We depend on that productivity

Millennium Assessment Board (2005). Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

Biodiversity and ecosystem function

Are we irreversibly altering biodiversity and ecosystems?

Barnosky et al. (2012). Nature

Biodiversity and ecosystem function

Are we irreversibly altering biodiversity and ecosystems?

40% land conversion globally

Barnosky et al. (2012) Nature; Foley et al. (2005) Nature

Area and isolation

A long precedent for viewing habitat fragments as islands

Diamond

Area and isolation

Equilibrium island biogeography theory

macWilson

Area and isolation

Equilibrium island biogeography theory

macWilson

Area and isolation

Equilibrium island biogeography theory

macWilson

Area and isolation

Species area relationship \(\hat{S} = f(A)\)

Area and isolation

Human activity and area: direct conversion

Area and isolation

Human activity and area: climate change

Island biogeography in biodiversity conservation

  • SLOSS
  • assisted migration
  • loss of evolutionary history

Where are all the extinctions

  • extinction debt
  • non-equilibrium
  • spatial configuration
  • false dichotomy between social and natural systems

Open questions

  • does the BEF relationship asymptote out?
  • resource limited or "network" limited?
  • is biodiversity driven by reversible or irreversible processes?
  • extent of dichotomy between humans and nature?